, 1887-02-02
NEW YORK SHIPPING.
NOTES ON THE COMMERCIAL MAG
NlFlceNcE OF. THE METROPOLIS.

NlfNCtNOS VI ft Mt
steamers Driving out saIiin. craft.
Why sew York Has Always Been oar
chief scaport-Prior to IsOO-Hnl",o ON
Timc,,.
| see that about 3 200 foreign Vessels ar
rived at the port Of New York last year.
The total number OF foreign and domestic
Vessels hat arrived here in lSsG /, csti-
mated at 80, 900. The Hebrcw prophet.
Ezekiel, breaks into fcryid clOcucncc in
celebrating the commercial splcndur uf the
great emporium OF 100 years ago. Tyre,
with It's multitude OF ships and its traffic
in gold, purple and ivory, the winc Of
Iielboa, silver, cassia, white wool and
precious stones, but what wGs Tyre.
though il was n merchant OF tbs people
Tor many isles and traded with Judah
and the land of Israel, Arabia, Sheba and
the princes of Kedar, compared 10 This
lions whelp of the western world, New
York.
Ilithsr comes the gold of Europe, the
opium, coffee and precious gums OF the
orient, the altar of roses from Turkey, the
precious stone OF far-ofi mines, the fruits
Of Sicily, rance md Spain, the rich silks
Of Lyons, the wines Of Bordeaux, the fine
linen Of Belfast, the bananas, cocoanuts,
oranges and sugar of the West Indiel, the
tin Of Cornwall and Malacca, the tea. cas-
sin and camphor Of Marco Polo's Far
Cathay,' the spices Of Zanzibar aud Cey-
Ion, and, in II word. all the rich products
OF the earth. And they come, for the most
part, ia great steamers, compared 10
which the ships of Syria N phmnicla
would seem little larger than the ordinary
lighter in the harbor Of New York.
A FOREIGN FLAG.
In 1885 some 5000 vessels, carrying 4
foreign flag, amt To New York. The
number has decreased since then, because
steamers nre driving out sailing craft, and
one voyage OF q good sized steamer Is equal
to half n dozen or more of the average
sailing vessel. Most Of the vessels leaving
here for foreign ports go to Great Britain,
Germany, France, Italy and the West
Indies, though many go to remote parts in
Asia and Africa. Most of the vessels in
the foreign trade are owned abroad. For
several years no American craft carried
grain to foreign marts. American vessels
take considerable petroleum TO various
parts OF the world, but there is this disad
vantage In that branch Of traffic, that n
vessel once given up to the petroleum trade
is never thereafter suitable for any other.
New York has always been the chief
seaport OF the United States, owing to its
magnificent harbor and to the tact that
the Hudson river penetrates TO II near
range of mountains without falls. rapids
or other Instructions to navigation Prior
to 1900, vessels went to Europe at no
stated time, us there We're no regular
lines and they sailed only when they had
secured II cargo. Passengers We're thus
often obliged to wait many weeks for u
ship 10 sail. The discomforts OF II pas
sage to and from England were almost
uncomfortable. DIR. Johnson, the famous
English moralist and photographer, des
cribel II ship rs worse than a prison be
cause the accommodations were equally
unsatisfactory while there was the addi-
tional danger OF being shipwrecked or
drowned. At the beginning of the pres
ent century the usual size of n seaworthy
ship was about TINT of the Erie cana
boat Of to-day, hat is, from 100 to $50
tons. \ vessel of 300 tons was considered
II marine monster. The passenger on the
ocean in the early part OF the century,
moreover, ran n risk unknown at the pres
cnt day, namely, the danger of capture
by pirates, though this evil was then
dying out, Piracy, however, was not
completely suppressed in the north Atlal-
tic until the second quarter of the present
century, and the passenger III the carly
American vessels in the days of Adams,
Jefferson and Madison might see an
ominous craft bearing down upon his ship,
run up the black flag and compel the
peaceable trader to surrender.
FIRST DAYS OF STEAMERS.
The steamers began to come to New
York about 1910 DIR. Dionysius Lard
ncr, MI eminent English scientist, had
demonstrated to the satisfaction OF the
multitude the absolute impossibility of IL
steamer crossing the Atlantic, on the as
sumption that no vessel could carry coal
enough for the trip. In the first days of
the steamers it took about three weeks to
cross TO London; in 1850 the time was
fifteen days; by 1860 1t had been reduced
to thirteen days; now the trip is some
times made in n little less than seven
days. The early Collins md Cunard
%tearner We're from 1000 L 9, 500 tons in
size, now the steamers plying between
here and Liverpool are from 5000 to 1000
tons capacity, and they are twice MS long
in proportion to their width as formerly.
They are the greyhounds of the ocean.
The days Of the OLD packets and clip
pcrs were the halcyon times of American
shipping. The old time captain was an
autocrat. He was the absolute master OF
his vessel and of every man on board of
her lie often received n salary of 50, 900
II YEAR, which was n very handsome
elnolument In those days-say from 1880
TO ls5o-and the captains We're generally
wealthy. The captains Of the great Liv-
erpool passenger steamers now receive
only $1,000 n year, and those In command
OF the German steamers only 81, 200. The
old clipper ships were the especial pride
OF Americans. The stately ships, how
ever. that once TRADED with Liverpool,
l%Iavre, Canton and a hundred other ports
have had to give way to that wonderful
creation of human ingenuity, tho modern
steamer, and the day is not far distant
when the sailing craft will be a stranger
10 the high seas.-New York Cor Kansas
City Times